And This Is How It Ends
by the ticking clock
Summary: "Tell her, this is the story of Amelia Pond. And this is how it ends." They have always needed the Doctor, and now that they've grown up, Amy realizes that he needs them too. A tribute to the Ponds. Spoilers for The Angels Take Manhattan.


She made him laugh.

No one else could make him laugh like Amelia, who wasn't scared of anything but a crack in her wall, who is sassy and smart and who waits fourteen years for her imaginary friend to come back to her.

When he does come back, and he takes her on adventure, it's a whirlwind of pirate ships, star whales, vampires, time travel, a lost painter and fish fingers and custard. He consumes her life, _is _her life. She doesn't regret it, not ever, especially when he does or says something so far-fetched and ridiculous that she laughs.

Because no one can make her laugh quite like the Doctor.

OoO

Rory was a reluctant time-traveler at first.

He was dragged into the insanity of the Atrixi incident, and again with the vampires in venice. But there was always a part of him that loved the Doctor too.

Rory had grown up with Amy's Raggedy Man almost as much as she had-he had been subject to her countless games growing up-and when the Doctor actually came back Rory was, he had to admit, a little excited.

And despite his love for all things normal and ordinary, he did do the impossible.

After all, it takes a pretty extraordinary man to punch Hitler.

OoO

There was something about having an eccentric alien as your best friend that made Amy feel special.

And she _was _special. She was the first face his eleventh face saw, and she knew it. But whenever her Raggedy Man did come back, and he grabbed her hand and pulled her off into time and space and they would save the earth and run and almost die and run some more-

And it was just _so fun. _

They had talked about stopping, her and Rory, talked about stopping the time-travel and living normal lives. But when she really stopped to consider it, she just _couldn't..._

Because who would give up those moments in the TARDIS when the Doctor is spinning in circles and being ridiculous, when his arm is around both her and Rory and they are eating fish fingers and custard and just talking...when they are laughing and laughing and laughing and they never want to stop-

Who could give all of _that _up?

OoO

Rory and the Doctor had understood each other.

After the Pandorica, they had reached a sort of mutual connection, a connection of looking young and feeling ancient, of hiding pain behind a mask of happiness, of running off to see the universe and never stopping because the memories were always there and-

Some nights, Rory would be sitting alone and the Doctor would come to him, come to him and stare with sad, haunted eyes. "I can help you, Rory," He said, and then the Timelord's hands are on his face, and the Doctor is in his _mind, _and the horrible memories of death and blood and countless years guarding a box are pushed back until they only whisper at the edges of his thoughts.

Rory never told Amy about how The Doctor helped him, never mentioned it once. Because the Doctor was Amy's Raggedy Man, but he was Rory's bizarre older-brother type figure who just _understood_.

He thought Amy saw it sometimes. He would catch her smirking at them, one eyebrow raised, but she never said a word.

Maybe it was better that way.

OoO

The Doctor was the kind of person that you could never, ever forget.

Amy spent the years after she had joined Rory back in time remembering her Raggedy Man, thinking about him, writing down their adventures in a journal...but life had to go on. She and Rory had to find a way to live on their own. She wasn't desperate little Amelia anymore, waiting for her Raggedy Doctor to come and save her. She was Amy, all grown up and working and living and breathing without the Doctor there to make her feel young again. But she had Rory, and he was all she really needed.

And after all, Amelia was like a name from a fairytale.

OoO

Some nights, when the stars were perfectly bright in the sky and they were lonely, they would walk outside and lay on their backs, and tell stories.

They talk about the time when they were kids, and Rory tried to be in a band.

They talk about the first fish fingers and custard.

They talk about Rory's first trip in the TARDIS.

Amy tells him about the star whale.

And they sit together, hand in hand, no longer Amelia Pond The Girl Who Waited and Rory Williams The Last Centurion. Now they're just Amy and Rory Williams, old married couple.

OoO

River asks her to write an Afterword in her book.

At first Amy almost says no, because she doesn't want to upset the Doctor more than he probably is, but it's Rory who convinces her in the end.

"He needs to know we still think about him and care about him," He says.

So she sits down for awhile and thinks about it. There had been a time when she would know just what to say to The Doctor, but it's been so long that she has to think.

She knows that he has felt loss before, but never like this one...she's not quote sure what to say to him, how to comfort him.

Rory comes up behind her, wraps his arms around her, takes off her reading glasses. "Remember how ridiculous he looked in these that day?" He says.

She laughs. "I don't know what to say to him, Rory."

"The truth?" He makes the word a question, and kiss her, gently. "I know you'll figure it out."

Later that night, she sat staring out her window at the darkening sky, watching as the stars came out, slowly, bright and twinkling and brilliant. She remembered when she had been a little girl, and she had waited every night, and prayed to Santa for help when the voices whispered through the crack in her wall. Her Raggedy Man had been there to save her then. She didn't need him now, but he needed her.

And she knew what to say.

Slowly, almost hesitantly she began to write.

_Afterword by Amelia Williams: Hello, old friend. And here we are. You and me, on the last page. By the time you read these words, Rory and I will be long gone. So know that we lived well and were very happy. And above all else, know that we will love you always. Sometimes I do worry about you though. I think once we're gone you won't be coming back here for awhile. And you might be alone. Which you should never be. Don't be alone, Doctor. And do one more thing for me. There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to see and fight pirates. She'll fall in love with a man who'll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived, and save a whale in outer space. Tell her, this is the story of Amelia Pond. And this is how it ends._

She began to cry, then, without knowing why, but she laughs when Rory comes up behind her, and whispers, "Amelia Pond," in her ear, a poor imitation of the Doctor's voice.

"Be happy, Raggedy Man," She whispers to the stars, and rests her head against her husband's shoulder. "For me."

She knows he will be happy, eventually. After all, she's Amelia Pond, and he's her Doctor. He would move on, he would still be that silly boy off to see the universe in his magnificent blue box...

"Rory," She whispers, "Will you tell me the story about the fez and the mop again?"

He laughs very softly in her ear.

And then they talk about their best friend, a raggedy man called The Doctor.


End file.
